Father, son share competition success

Bryce Arceneaux blew air into the instrument, mimicking the loud noise he would use to lure a duck in the wild.

Raymond LegendreSports Correspondent

Bryce Arceneaux blew air into the instrument, mimicking the loud noise he would use to lure a duck in the wild. It didn't matter that the 12-year-old Raceland boy was using a borrowed duck call or that he was nervous.His natural abilities, sharpened over four years of practice, took over.Bryce walked away from La Fete d'Ecologie's youth duck-calling competition in Morgan City on Nov. 10 with a first-place plaque. His 45-year-old father, James, won the adult division."It's in our blood," Bryce said via phone, as he and his dad traveled to Texas on a hunting trip. "It comes from the lungs."Father and son attended the festival to support James' father-in-law, a duck carver whose decoys were on sale at the festival. While there they came upon the duck-calling contest.James Arceneaux had entered a handful of likewise competitions before, having won third-place in one, he said. For Bryce, La Fete d'Ecologie offered his first chance to test his skills against others.Bryce did a hail call, feed call and comeback call, his dad recalled. The hail call consists of seven to eight long calls. The comeback call consists of short, relatively quiet noises designed to avoid scaring the duck away. The feed call is also reassuring in nature."It makes you feel proud for your son to get a first-place trophy," Arceneaux said of his son, a seventh-grade student at Raceland Middle School.Arceneaux estimated he hunts 15 to 20 times each year with his son. They squeeze in as many trips as they can during holidays like Thanksgiving, the father said. Arceneaux noted he aimed to pass down a tradition to his son that his father had passed down to him several decades ago.Bryce is a willing learner."I like hunting and I like sports," the boy said. "I'm not one of these people who likes sitting around in front of the TV screen."